Writing from a witty and sardonic adult perspective, Kathleen Martin explores the turmoil of adolescence in this highly original first novel. Since age seven, Penny Maybe has lived in one foster home after another, making her sceptical of just about everything. Arriving at yet another new 'home,' she expects that eventually something will go wrong and she'll be back at the foster child depot. Despite living with quirky and emotionally unstable foster parents, Penny remains undaunted, and decides that the ultimate way to find herself is to do something remarkable -- swim Lake Ontario. In a world where adults behave like adolescents, sixteen-year-old Penny will take us back to what we may have forgotten: that first kisses sound like Debussy, that Freddie Mercury ranks up there with God and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and that loneliness is just a regular slice of life.